“When I have my day off, and I’m going out on my bike, people are laughing because there are so many visitors from Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany doing set tours and it’s like seeing Pippi Longstocking in her own house,” Alexandra Rapaport smiles as she chats to Nordic Watchlist from the set of The Sandhamm Murders. No doubt causing many a tourist to do a comedic double take as she goes about shooting the latest series of the hit TV show, the Swedish star is warm and enthusiastic as we talk about her work.
We’re discussing Veronika, the fantastic Viaplay series which casts Rapaport in the titular role. “It took about five or six years [to get the show developed and distributed]. It was a long but important process,” she notes. As an executive producer on the show, she acknowledges that they “had to work out how we were going to tell this story and still make it really exciting.”
“We wanted to show this character and everything she is struggling with but be able to move the story forward. Everything is connected – all the dreams and all the visions she has – so it took a while.”
For many viewers, it’s these dreams and visions (which represent Veronika’s childhood trauma), that will really draw them into the series. “I think people that are sensitive … who have this vulnerability, these mental health issues, will have spent a lot of time feeling like they are not normal. She spends a lot of time trying to fit in and she carries a lot of shame with her because she is an addict. And she’s not a good mother and she’s not a good wife and she’s mentally absent at work. It’s a very human experience. She’s a human being … but she’s not functioning.”
For others, it will be the all-consuming location that causes Veronika to be a series that lingers with them long after they’ve watched it. Filmed in Dannemora, Gimo and Österbybruk, the imposing forests that border Veronika’s house make the show seem like a fairytale … you know, the kind where you might get eaten in the woods.
“I loved it!” Alexandra enthuses. “When I came to all these places … I mean, it’s a shame you can’t see even more detail in the show because I felt like I was in a live-action role-play. We had all the fog and smoke and all the beautiful old trees. It really helped me. Coupled with the themes of the occult and the paranormal, it was a really special vibe.”
“You know my biggest private wish was I wanted to see ghosts! I wanted something more [for the show]. How would that appear in your world and who would believe you? Would you believe yourself?”
And its definitely this vibe that elevates Veronika beyond your standard police procedural to something that will have you doubting both the titular character and yourself. But how did it feel playing opposite the man who’s just been cast as one of the most famous Scandinavian detectives?
“I didn’t know Tobias [Santelmann, who plays Veronika’s exasperated husband, Tomas] before we met here. We had the same way of working. We’re both very easy-going and we don’t have these big processes where we’re method acting. We’re chatting and giggling and trying to connect in that way. So, it’s a lot of intuition when we work. We were both sensitive to each other and able to read each other.”
“He really took responsibility for his character. Tobias is a very intelligent person and he was really keen to work out his function in the overall series. How does he act in a way that is true to his own character but still in a way that might cause viewers to suspect him?”
If you’ve watched Veronika – and we insist that you do – that very list of suspects changes with almost every episode. Our titular character sets up a wall of evidence in her attic, linking connections with string and leaning into her visions (and her prescription medication) for help. She’s a woman on the brink; solving the case seems increasingly out of her grasp.
“I didn’t do any police research because she’s not a very good detective,” Alexandra laughs. “But I did go to see a medium. I asked her what it was like when she was a child – did she think she was crazy? She told me she tried to block it all out to try to fit in.” That notion of acceptance, again.
“And I have past experience from earlier relationships of being around addiction, so I know what it does to a person. To be that person who always fails or who fails everyone else. To me, it comes with a lot of shame.”
Alexandra’s passion for Veronika, as a project and as a character is so clear. She oscillates between warm laughter and serious contemplation as she reflects on her time spent in her shoes.
“I think I would make a good detective in real life,” she laughs. “I mean, it’s my company who produced Veronika and I’m an executive producer and I’m in it from the start. So, I think I would be. Whenever I read books, I always fold my pages under and I say, ‘Okay, I know who the murderer is.’ It’s an obsession, actually. I love it!”
And now, of course, we meet as she prepares for a different aspect of law-making as she reprises her role as Nora Linde in The Sandhamm Murders. We can also see Alexandra in Honour, No Time to Mourn and a film called Little Did I Know, which won the best film award at the prestigious Monte Carlo Film Festival.
“There will be a lot of me on Viaplay,” she smiles. And, as we wrap up our chat, Alexandra thinks about heading out on her bike again or going for a walk. If only we could see the faces of those on the Sandhamm set tour, no doubt dismissing her appearance as a dream or a vision. Perhaps a little like Veronika.
Viaplay USA is available via Prime Video Channels and includes several series with Alexandra including all seasons of The Sandhamn Murders, Gåsmamman/No Time to Mourn, Heder/Honour, The Team and more.